How to set up Private Beta Testing and shape the feature quality before the launch.
What is Beta Testing?
Do you want to get early feature feedback from your existing customers? Do you want to improve your product based on customer feedback? Do you want to sleep well after the feature launch on Friday evening?
There are hundreds of ways to proceed and make your Beta Program shiny and robotic in theory. In reality, you are working at a startup, all engineers are booked until next year, and you have zero budget to invest. If this is the case, let’s get started! 🙌
Beta Testing Sign-up Form
First, you need to create a Beta Testing application form. Create the template with a Google form with one click. Think about what information you would need to collect from users to enroll them in the future feature and how to communicate the feature description to the Beta testers.
To prevent leaking of the new features outside of this group of early users, confirm with your Legal team that there are no restrictions and ideally, for a drafted NDA the users can sign formally. If you are still a small startup and don’t have a dedicated legal team, there is always a solution. First, I want to say Google it and correct it immediately, please Chat GPT it.
Here is an example:
Once your template is done and you feel great, it’s about time to show it to the legal team for approval. Most likely, you will need to change here and there and will be a little bit disappointed with the extra work, but it will be worth it, believe me.
One more important thing people forget: check the settings and make sure anyone can access the form, and not only shared with people inside of the company. Here is an instruction:
Open a form in Google Forms.
At the top of the form, click Settings.
Turn off Restrict to users in [yourdomain.com] and its trusted organizations.
Find Beta Testers
Your shiny Beta sign-up form is ready for the power users. There are many different places to look for testers. The most reliable way is to post in your social media: Twitter, Discord, weekly newsletter, company blog and etc. The idea is to find users interested in your product and already using it regularly.
Make the Beta Program announcement exciting! Don’t forget to link the Google form and test the submission flow before sending it to the bigger audience with your personal email to ensure all privacy settings are set up correctly.
Success! You have thousands of people signed up, and you have no idea if those users are real or bots. Easy solution: collaborate with the data analytics team to query only users with activities for the last month or any other valuable time frame for your product. The deal is done, the list of users is ready, and hopefully, your new feature is cooking on time!
Rollout First Feature to Beta Testers
Quite an essential part of your Beta Program, don’t screw up:
Select one hundred users to roll out the experience.
Start drafting the email with the feature description, add a screenshot with the flow, and most importantly, guide users on seeing a new experience.
Add the link to the Google form where users can provide their feedback and send their bug reports, suggestions on improvements, or some love about your new feature.
Reviewing the final draft with the legal team, if you have one, is a good practice. Remember to run an email test on your own before sending it to a bigger audience.
The last piece is to enroll users in the feature experiment and send your shiny email.🚀
Review Beta Testers Feedback
Wows! Let’s review the first feedback! Check the Google form’s replies regularly. Review them in detail and share the summary with your team. Continue championing and creating a task or bug report to follow up on the action item after feedback triaging. In addition, let’s add a “Beta feedback” label to the ticket for a quick search in the future.
Let’s repeat and roll out to the next 100, 200, 300… users!🚀
The Journey is Never Ending
Automation is the most crucial part of the journey. Get creative and improve your Beta Testing Program: create a submit bug button on your web app or shake the app to provide feedback! There are an unlimited number of pieces that you can use to make the process easier and more robotics.
Last but Not Least
Finding the right users for beta tests is hard, and it gets even harder to keep them interested over time. Think about incentive program that you can create for the most valuable feedback or report the most bugs for the period of time. It can be swag, e-gift card for your product, recognition on newsletter or anything else. Build relationship with your Beta testers and show the appreciation for their contribution.